Previews

Ninety-Nine Nights

When you defeat enemies, they leave behind red souls, which accumulate in a separate meter. When this is full, you can press the B button to activate it, which allows you to cut through swarms of enemies in a matter of seconds. During this sequence, red souls turn into blue souls, which fill up another meter. When this meter is full, pressing the B button won't put you into another mode; rather, it activates a super special attack that obliterates anything in its path. Use this in a crowd of enemies and watch your kills soar into the thousands in an eye blink! Much like Dynasty Warriors, you'll often find treasures on the battlefield, either by defeating opponents or opening chests. These treasures can either boost your powers temporarily, or they'll become permanent fixtures.

As expected, N3's visuals are a notch above those that you'll find on the Xbox and PS2, and although people will complain about the textures in the game (they range from excellent to Xbox-level at times), the fact that this game is pushing around several hundred characters at a time with very little slowdown is quite impressive. Admittedly, some of the earlier stages may not seem that impressive when you play through them, but give it a couple of hours and the quality really shines through. The amount of land you can actually see in the game is also quite impressive. You can spot legions from extremely far distances fairly easily, which makes it easier to coordinate your attack.

Honestly, seeing that the X360 has such a powerful online community -- more so than any other console -- it's disappointing to see that there are no multiplayer options for the game whatsoever. It's simply a single player affair, which may be okay with some people, but the lack of any online mode is saddening when you consider that Phantagram's Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes actually had a good online component to it. Could it be something that will be added to the game when it hits America? That's for Phantagram and Q Entertainment to decide.

While there's no U.S. release date for it, with E3 around the corner there should be some sort of announcement detailing the plans for the game soon. Don't think that it won't make it here either; this game is virtually guaranteed for a U.S. release. It's not a matter of if, but when. Still, if the U.S. release is a ways away, there's hope that Phantagram and Q Entertainment will be able to go back to the game and include features that aren't in the Japanese version, such as online play, but that's just wishful thinking at this point.